Iraqis get a taste for Linux

A group of Iraqi computer enthusiasts are advocating the use
of the operating system Linux to rebuild their country.

Ashraf Hasson and Hasanen Nawfal are both natives of Baghdad.

Like many 20-somethings, Hasson and Nawfal grew up nurturing
passions for computers and for programming.

Both of them are firm believers in open source software. Unlike
expensive proprietary software, open-source software can be
freely distributed and modified, as long as the modifications
are shared with other users.

They are particularly fans of Linux operating system.

These two Linux enthusiasts, though, did not even know one
another before the ousting of Saddam Hussein.

But they found each other online, in a Linux forum hosted by
Iraqi expatriates, soon after Saddam fell and started thinking
about what they could do.

"Every country has a Linux users group except Iraq, so I
thought, maybe Iraq deserves to have a Linux users group,"
said Ashraf Hasson.

"We started sending e-mails, and trying to figure out how
to help Iraqi people here to know about Linux, educate them,
spread the word. And so we did."

Cost savings

The Iraqi Linux User Group has now been up and running for a
little more than a year.

There is a shortage in power and water supplies, and sewage systems, so the last thing Iraq needs is spending billions of dollars on very expensive and overpriced products, especially software products Nabil Suleiman, Iraqi Linux User Group

The Iraqi Linux User Group website lists more than 200 members,
most of whom are Iraqi expatriates.

They are united in their belief that open-source software like
Linux could help their nation.

Its chief advantage is that Linux code is free to use and
modify.

To Nabil Suleiman, a member of the Iraqi Linux User Group
living in Canada, Linux could mean significant cost savings.

"There is a shortage in power and water supplies, and sewage
systems, so the last thing Iraq needs is spending billions of
dollars on very expensive and overpriced products, especially
software products," he said.

"We believe that Linux can save us lots of money in this field."

Illegal software

But it is about more than just cost for the Iraqi Linux User Group.

The open source enthusiasts believe it could allow Iraqis to
build their own home-grown technologies.

//Proprietary software companies are using these illegal copies as a free sample program, and a marketing tool, as they have in other countries Don Marti, Linux Journal]]

"This enables the country to build its own infrastructure
based on open source, on open ideas," Ashraf Hasson.

"That might help establish a solid base for Iraqi technology,
and help not constrain the country with proprietary software
and prevent monopolisation over Iraq by such major companies."

But getting Iraqis to think about Linux is an uphill
battle. Most have never touched a computer, let alone thought
about what operating system they want to use.

Computer software is now more widely available in Iraq, but
little of it open-source.

"Currently, most software in use in Iraq is illegal copies
of proprietary software," explained Don Marti editor of the
US-based Linux Journal.

Software giants like Microsoft, he said, are happy to hook
Iraqis on their software.

"Proprietary software companies are using these illegal copies
as a free sample program, and a marketing tool, as they have
in other countries."

"When the crackdown comes, and the people in Iraq start having
to comply with the licenses for this software, then they're
going to be in trouble."

It means Iraqis are going to have to start paying companies
like Microsoft, who declined to be interviewed.

Obstacles in the way

Ashraf Hasson of the Iraqi Linux User Group said he would
actually welcome tech giants like Microsoft coming into the
Iraqi market.

He grudgingly even admitted that the Windows operating system
may be OK for "people who want to do basic stuff".

But he is pushing small and medium-sized businesses, and the
Iraqi government, to consider running open-source software on
their servers.

He is also leading Linux seminars at a couple of Iraq's larger
universities.

And Nabil Suleiman in Canada says that some expatriate members
of the user group want to open a Linux training centre in
Baghdad.

"But it all depends on how the political issues and all the
other issues are resolved there," he said.

"I think it will take between two years and five years to
stabilise the whole system, and then we can start building on
a more stable foundation."

Inside the country, the Iraqi Linux User Group is thinking
big. Their ambitious goal is to see every server in the country
running Linux a year from now.